Issue Nine: Markets

editor’s note

T​​​​his issue of The Bite is for the love of markets—not the open-air kind, but the neighborhood ones that specialize, the small-town ones that act as beacons and gathering places, the ones that embody the spirit and character of faraway places.

A search for the perfect paprika; a recipe that calls for berbere, or for cut-to-order meat. Love for the persimmon, or the baklava, or the brisket. Heartache for an ingredient from a distant home, whether that’s the city where you were born or a place you settled into and loved and then had to leave. A bone-deep yearning for what has been lost to national chains and soulless box stores; longing for a dish interwoven with stories of a grandparent’s point of origin.

What brings you to a market might be any of these. Or it might just be a craving for a certain meal, a favorite sandwich that can be prepared while you pick up the mustard or rice or olive oil that no one else carries, or that you prefer to buy here, in this place, from these people, on this corner.